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I understood what you are saying, and FWIW I'm very glad Khashoggi is getting all this attention. But that doesn't make the parent wrong that Khashoggi getting

I understood what you are saying, and FWIW I'm very glad Khashoggi is getting all this attention. But that doesn't make the parent wrong that Khashoggi getting attention disproportionate to similar crimes (and it doesn't demonstrate a conspiracy; IMHO he simply is more prominent and in many people's minds he is effectively an American journalist and/or represents American values). I assume you must be aware that horrible things like this happen to many people in many countries - and I wish they all got this level of attention. Just off the top of my head, in China there are people in Xinjiang in labor/re-education camps, people who disappear when they go to Beijing to petition the government, dissidents who the Chinese government kidnaps from foreign countries, etc. That's just one country; there's N Korea, Myanmar, Russia (all the murdered and imprisoned journalists and political opposition) and so many more. I'm not sure what you're really trying to say. Is the crime in Khashoggi's case qualitatively different? Because he was killed? While not everyone in every example I named was killed, certainly many are.

danso 8y ago
Yes, Khashoggi's case is qualitatively different -- not just because he was killed, but because of who he was in life, the manner of his alleged murder, and the ensuing coverup. We can agree in theory, or ideally, that all deaths/murders should be equal in weight. But pragmatically, we only have a limited attention span to devote to a finite number of these tragedies. And the info and background around Khashoggi's case is substantially more accessible than people who have been covertly murdered. Of course famous people get more attention when things happen to them (not just death, but relationships, babies, job changes, etc) -- the nature of being famous is that more people know about you at all. But the parent commenter is wrong to believe that the attention and stories given to Khashoggi are simply about the event of his murder. Khashoggi was a journalist for one of the world's largest and most prestigious news organizations -- it shouldn't be a surprise that those newspeople are inclined to make a big deal of his death. And because his life involved being an outspoken critic of a particularly important world leader -- which unavoidably entangles other world leaders, such as President Trump -- the matters surrounding his death are going to continue draw worldwide attention.

danso 8y ago

Yes, Khashoggi's case is qualitatively different -- not just because he was killed, but because of who he was in life, the manner of his alleged murder, and the ensuing coverup. We can agree in theory, or ideally, that all deaths/murders should be equal in weight. But pragmatically, we only have a limited attention span to devote to a finite number of these tragedies. And the info and background around Khashoggi's case is substantially more accessible than people who have been covertly murdered. Of course famous people get more attention when things happen to them (not just death, but relationships, babies, job changes, etc) -- the nature of being famous is that more people know about you at all. But the parent commenter is wrong to believe that the attention and stories given to Khashoggi are simply about the event of his murder. Khashoggi was a journalist for one of the world's largest and most prestigious news organizations -- it shouldn't be a surprise that those newspeople are inclined to make a big deal of his death. And because his life involved being an outspoken critic of a particularly important world leader -- which unavoidably entangles other world leaders, such as President Trump -- the matters surrounding his death are going to continue draw worldwide attention.